Driving safety seems to be improving almost every day. Great strides have been made in the automotive industry to ensure the safety of drivers and passengers on the road.
It has been over a decade since Electronic Stability Control (ESC) has been introduced. What is ESC exactly? Well, it helps drivers to avoid crashes by reducing the danger of skidding, or losing control as a result of over-steering.
Ford released their own version of ESC called AdvanceTrac in 2000. It has since been implemented in all of their vehicles.
We know that ESC keeps us safe on the road, but how does it work? Well it doesn’t work alone. The ESC system uses the car’s other safety devices, like anti-lock braking and traction control. These correct issues to keep you out of accidents.
The heart of the ESC system can be found located in the center of your vehicle. This is called the yaw control sensor. What is yaw? Well yaw is found in both vehicles and ships. It is the movement around a vertical, or z, axis. Anytime the ESC detects that your vehicle is swinging around too much near that axis, the ESC goes to work.
The ESC sensors can activate brakes and control the vehicle’s throttle to control the speed of the car when necessary.
ESC information is sent into the car's central computer through three types of sensors:
Wheel-speed sensors: measures the speed of the wheel which the central computer system can then judge to the speed of the engine.
Steering-angle sensors: judges the direction the driver is aiming the car. If it's different than the direction the car is actually heading, the ESC system will kick in.
Rotational-speed sensor: also known as the yaw sensor. This sensor measures the side-to-side motion of the vehicle.
The ESC is still one of the most important safety systems on the market. It has been influential in cutting down the number of accidents. Whether it’s a rainstorm, icy/slippery condition, you can usually count on your ESC system to keep you out of harm's way. In fact, the ESC is so helpful that the government has require every vehicle to have a digital ESC system since 2012.
For more information on the Electronic Stability Control, consult your local dealership.
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